1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monitoring method and a monitoring device of a vacuum-system device having a vacuum portion such as a length-measuring SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) or a semiconductor manufacturing device having a vacuum processing device (hereinafter referred to as “vacuum device”).
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, to grasp a state in the inside of a vacuum device, a dedicated measuring device or a dedicated vacuum gauge is connected to the vacuum device and the monitoring of the state of the inside of the vacuum device is performed each time when the monitoring is necessary.
To enable the real time monitoring of the state of the device in the conventional device, it is necessary to make respective types of sensors measure states in which measuring devices are connected and to analyze data on the result of measurement. Usually, a large number of sensors are mounted in the inside of the vacuum device. Accordingly, it is difficult to measure the state of sensors simultaneously and hence, the states of respective parts of the vacuum device are not grasped simultaneously so that the analysis is performed one by one. Particularly, with respect to a length-measuring SEM which is used in the manufacturing of semiconductor substrates, an extremely large number of sensors are present in the inside of a vacuum chamber (portion) of the device to provide the automation. The same goes for the semiconductor manufacturing device. In such a vacuum device, it is difficult to monitor the states of all sensors in real time and collectively. When the monitoring is not performed in real time and collectively, it is difficult to avoid a large burden when the maintenance control of the device or countermeasures to overcome drawbacks are to be performed.